a lipsmacking journey through life. Food, travel and lifestyle stories.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

food trail:school camps and south indian sapad

I hadn’t planned for this food trail. A school camp to vedasandur hardly had the makings of a foodies paradise and yet we had some
‘fresh from the farm local flavor’ to the place which prompted me to write this
post.

love the efficient way the sapad is served,four in one food server

Who knows some day someone might find themselves on the road between
Madurai and Dindigul and my blog post makes them stop over at the road side
‘sapad’ joint in Vedasanthur.

The sign boards are all in Tamil, so did not get the name of
the food place, but its close to the government secondary higher secondary
girls school and shri mala primary school. Since the school was where we had
the eye camp, we headed for the sapad joint , just as the ringing of the school
bell announced the lunch break for the children and time for us to close shop
for lunch.

a typical roadside south indian sapad

Most of these camps will have the local coordinator taking
us to the nearest place to a hot or not so hot meal. Sometimes some non
government organization like lions club might pitch in. Since I had been a=on a
few camps in the nearby villages I had come to accept the banana leaf meal of
sapad which means rice in Tamil. Even though ‘sapad’ means rice, it also means
food. So if someone wants to ask ‘have you eaten?’ , they say “sapadingla?” in
reply if we have eaten we say “saptache.”
The guy in the sapad joint announced that they had the
vegetarian sapad meal, as well as chicken or mutton biryani.Now I have had
sapad at many a roadside stall, and so the newness of having biryani on a
banana leaf could not be passed up.

the school laboratory,where we set up eye screening camp

the young nurses laugh while the school girls undergo their PT session

As I clicked away at the food, we saw the beaming lungi clad
server ply us with more food.

The veg sapad had rice (the staple) , sambar, a cabbage
sabji, a potato sabji, curd, pickle, papad, extra pinch of salt on the side and
since we were privileged customers ;) a cup of sweet dish, kheer.

chicken biryani,chicken dry,kolam and salad..on a banana leaf

The chicken biryani was made of very small, very soft grains of rice unlike the long basmati grains
that one is used to. A side dish of dry chicken and curried chicken soup
‘kolam’ was served along with the biryani. Onions lightly marinated in curd
completed the dish. It was sumptuous and we licked the banana leaf clean.

Its customery to fold your banana leaf from up to down if
you have enjoyed your meal, and as a regard for the cook I was told and I
promptly folded my disposable sapad plate before throwing it away. A few more
tips on eating on a banana leaf are that if you ever find yourself with a leaf
which has a broad end and a narrow end , always keep the wide end to your right
so that more food is put on the right side allowing you to use your right hand
without crossing the plate.Always wash your banana leaf thoroughly because it
is after all a leaf, and I for one had bird poop on my plate once.

As we drove back 85 kilometers to Madurai, we stopped at a
roadside vineyard to pick up farm fresh grapes for our journey back. The grapes
were ‘rose grapes’ the lady selling them informed. They were seeded as well as
sweet. I am more prone to eat the genetically modified seedless grapes as I
suppose most of us city bred types are, but as my professor says “seedless
grapes make you seedless” , I enjoyed the “organic food ness “ of the rose
grapes.

fresh from the farm

I returned back amazed at what a full day I had had. Tasty,
wholesome, spiceful food is waiting to be sampled in all parts of the world as
long as you let the trail lead you.

About Me

There was a time when I was finicky about food, now I am fanatic about it! There isn't anthing I wouldn't try atleast once. Life is to be lived one glorious adventure at a time. I wear many hats. The compassionate doctor, the marathon movie watcher, , the moody philosopher and the adventurour foodie and wanderlust traveller.doctor by profession, a foodie by passion and a writer at heart.